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May 23, 2012

Criminal Minds: Riding the Lightning

by Jonathan Toomey, posted Jan 27th 2006 10:11PM

criminal mindsI can't say that I was pleased with this episode. Thus far, the hallmark of a Criminal Minds episode is that is throws you for a loop because you have no idea what's around the next turn. This episode... not so much. It was pretty predictable and I found myself fast-forwarding (thank you TiVO) through some of the drawn out scenes.

The team (including Garcia... I love that she's in the everyday cast now) are sent to Florida to grill a serial killer couple 35 hours before their execution. Why you ask? Because the whereabouts of the couple's son is still unknown (he's dead as far as they can tell) and it's possible that they killed more girls than originally thought. Time's running out.

Gideon and Hotch interview the couple (Jacob and Sarah Jean) but they don't get much out of them other than a vibe Gideon gets from the wife. She seems remorseful... scared. This is confirmed when Elle and Morgan recover a statement of innocence from Sarah Jean's mother. She says she didn't help her husband kill all those girls. Which leads Gideon to believe that maybe she didn't kill her son. See what I mean by predictable? I bet 95% of those reading this right now could explain how this episode plays out.

Naturally, they track down the son. He's alive and well. Jacob feeds some info about the whereabouts of a body... he wants the cops to think his wife killed the son. I'm pretty sure he thought she did. She actually just abandoned him to keep Jacob away from the kid. So the son is found, Jacob is executed... and this is where it stopped being predictable. But it wasn't a good unpredictable outcome. The wife chose to not pursue a stay of execution and took the chair. I didn't really like that. I understood why she did it, but I didn't agree.

Regardless, this is still a great show and one poor episode isn't going to sway me. If CBS handles this right, Criminal Minds should be around for a while.

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Avery Gordon

HELP!!! What is the name of the actress who played the innocent mother, who was executed within hours of her husband! I went to school with her over 30 years ago, and never thought her capable of such depth in a role. I MUST find out her name and find her on our alumni website, whether she's changed her name or not. PLEASE HELP!!!

April 26 2006 at 10:30 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
RedPen

This episode was very, very good - perhaps a tad predictable, but when the writers and actors can take a predictable storyline and still breathe life into it, there's hope.

First seasons are murder; it's no wonder so many shows never make it to a second. You spend as much time setting your characters' backgrounds and "niches" in place as you do creating the actual cases.

Gideon fought the wife's execution clear to the end - but he let her go finally because he understood why she was asking him to; to spare her son that "scandal."

They've made it over the first hurdle - they got renewed. I'm looking forward to Season 2!

April 08 2006 at 11:46 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Tanray

Love the Criminal Minds program. It is great! Love Criminal Minds' soundtrack. Where can I get it?

March 23 2006 at 12:32 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jenny

I love this show so much that, to me, they can do no wrong.
However... The part where Gideon just lets it slide and lets her take the chair didn't sit right with me either.
Who would let that happen, for nay reason. As all those people standing around --the guards and the like... wouldn't someone say, "Hey you are innocent this can't happen"

I don't know, I just didn't like that part.

Other than that, I love this show. Another great Ed Bernero series!!!

February 13 2006 at 10:04 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
David

While I liked the moments mentioned above, I also agree that this episode was a bit lacking compared to the others this season. I realize they don't want to be to formulaic, but I would have liked to have seen something a bit less predictable from the start.

January 29 2006 at 11:11 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
RFRY

I agree about the predictability, but the moment when Hochner threw the picture of the son up against the glass just as Jacob was about to be executed and said--nearly shouted--'you lose,' was tremendous to me. Thomas Gibson, though I love him to bits, can be a bit stuffy as an actor, and his character's written that way, so to see his (almost) vindictive side was a nice treat.

January 28 2006 at 12:53 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Walt

The wife's appeal and the surprise acceptance was as much of an honest tear-jerker as any TV show I've seen all year. Sure, the "truthiness" of the show was about as sound and well thought out as the voting is for "Dancing with the Stars", but I found the argument of the woman incredibly interesting.

January 28 2006 at 12:21 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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